Allies probe minister's 'suicide'

Allied military chiefs were today looking at reports that the Iraqi information minister dubbed "Comical Ali" had committed suicide.

Newspaper reports in Iran said Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf, who repeatedly claimed that Iraq was winning the war, had hanged himself.

Military sources treated the reports with caution, suggesting they could have been spread by the fleeing Iraqi propagandist to throw special forces' snatch squads off his tail.

Al-Sahhaf is not on the US list of Saddam Hussein's 55 most-wanted henchmen, but he is still being sought, after becoming the mouthpiece for the Iraqi regime during the war.

Vanished

Despite having one of the most recognised faces in the Middle East he has not been seen since he vanished just before the fall of Baghdad.

Two Iranian newspapers said he killed himself in the hours before the capital was taken by US forces, and refugees coming across the Iranian border said he had committed suicide.

A military source said: "We can't verify this but we are still looking for him and other members of the regime.

"If he's dead that's it, but if he's alive we'll be very interested to talk to him.

"He told a lot of lies, but everyone could see that when he said our tanks weren't in Baghdad, while we were literally just down the road from where he was."

Propaganda

Al-Sahhaf acted as a one man propaganda machine during the war, launching increasingly ludicrous tirades on worldwide television.

His impromptu rants, filled with hyperbole and invective, were compulsive viewing and made him a cult figure.

A joke website set up in his name crashed when millions around the globe tried to log on.

His most famous outburst came when, despite the fact that clear bursts of gun fire could be heard nearby, he stood on a Baghdad hotel roof and told the world with a straight face that the Americans were being defeated.

He said: "We slaughtered them and we will continue to slaughter them. God is grilling their stomachs in hell."

As he spoke, US tanks were destroying his own office and blowing away what remained of Saddam's regime.

His daily broadcasts from Baghdad - dubbed "The al-Sahhaf show" - often ridiculed US President George Bush and the Prime Minister Tony Blair, but US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld was also a favourite target, who was called "the most despicable creature".

Insults

Al-Sahhaf also introduced insults virtually unknown to the Arab public.

His use of "uluj", an obscure and particularly insulting term for "infidel", sent viewers calling TV stations for a definition.

Al-Sahhaf was studying to be an English teacher

when he began his career in politics in 1963 by joining a violent group led by Saddam that targeted opponents of the Ba'ath Party.

He later served as Iraq's ambassador to India, Italy and the United Nations.

He was information minister from 2001 and from 1993 to 2001 was foreign minister.

Although he became the prominent face of the regime, he was not considered part of the ruling elite.

He lacked the political and military weight of the relatives and clansmen who were Saddam's closest lieutenants.